Your Fetus Can Taste Your Food

Can you teach your baby to love fruits and veggies by eating lots of them when you’re pregnant?

Survey says: Yes. According to The New Scientist‘s Bumpology column, studies show that babies whose mothers consumed garlic or anise during pregnancy are drawn towards those smells in the first few days after birth. A 2001 study found that the infants of mothers who drank 300 ml of carrot juice four times a week for three weeks during the last trimester of pregnancy showed a greater enjoyment of cereals prepared with carrot juice once they were weaned. Linda Geddes writes:

[Julie Mennella, a taste researcher at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia] says she has found that infants whose mothers ate a lot of fruit during pregnancy are more accepting of fruit when it is introduced to them during weaning… Pregnancy and lactation may therefore be ideal times to set babies a good example by eating a healthy and varied diet, she suggests.

Geddes adds that since it’s too early to know just how much a mother needs to drink for the taste to reach her baby, “personally, I’m not going to let this stop me from having the odd glass of wine.” My question is: How come my mom puts hot sauce and/or jalepeños on everything and I have a spice and heat tolerance so low that Dijon mustard makes my eyes water?